


Lifespan

by MiniNephthys



Category: 1bitHeart (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 15:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4841456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In his last year, Nanase reaches out to his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lifespan

Doctors aren’t exactly equipped to deal with Nanase’s powers. There is no cure for them, and no known method of reversing the toll they’ve had on him. What they can do is estimate about how long he has left.

He doesn’t say anything about what his physicians tell him to anyone else, not even while the numbers they give him decrease. Ten years. Five years. Two years.

One year, at the very best.

Misane finds out first, because Misane is a detective of impeccable skill and also Nanase’s best friend. Though, this isn’t her most difficult case to solve: she simply asks him why he’s been staring at the calendar while looking like he’s about to cry, and Nanase hems and haws for a few moments before telling her.

After the initial moment of pure shock, Misane hugs him. Nanase starts to make excuses about how really, he’d known this was going to happen for ages, it’s not like it’s a surprise, but she just holds him tighter, so tightly that it hurts.

It’s Misane’s suggestion that he should get back in contact with old friends. As hard as it is for him to leave his apartment now, he can still send messages, and some of them might even come to visit. Nanase doubts that, but agrees to send a round of messages, just to see if anyone’s interested.

Akitaka is the first to answer. They chat amiably for a while before Akitaka asks if he’s gotten out of the house lately to see any bands. Nanase admits how bad his failing health has gotten, and for a while there’s a silence on Akitaka’s end. After about half an hour, Akitaka gets back to him: he’s getting Asuto and Enri back together (they’ve long since gone separate ways) and they’re going to play for him.

So that’s that. Nanase makes a few token protests about how messy his apartment is, but in the end the three show up and rock out loudly enough that his neighbors downstairs pound on their ceiling. Afterwards they all hang around and talk about the Larikkuma anniversary special (Asuto is as huge a fan as ever) and the number of puppy pictures Nanase keeps on his computer for when he’s having a rough day (Enri wonders how he even has the hard disk space for 3000 pictures, and Nanase proudly says his computer has the most ridiculous specs of any computer in the city).

Akitaka passes on well wishes from Ryuuri and Kirara as well: their gang’s broken up, and Ryuuri’s making an honest living now as a gym trainer. His siblings treat Kirara as she were their sister-in-law in basically everything but name, and she doesn’t seem to mind.

Miumi gets back to Nanase almost as quickly as Akitaka does. She’s basically fluent by now, and asks him if she should consider picking up a third language to be more versatile. Nanase suggests binary.

She invites him to see one of Natsukage’s competitions and Nanase has to tell her, too, about his health. After sending questions about why he didn’t tell her sooner followed by long strings of exclamation points and sad emoji, she arranges to come visit within the week.

Natsukage comes along, which doesn’t entirely surprise Nanase. He sits through an entire lecture about how much of an idiot he is for keeping his health a secret for this long, before hugging Natsukage and apologizing. Natsukage doesn’t seem to know what to make of that, as usual, but ends up hugging him in return. Miumi grabs both of them and turns it into a group hug, and the air is a bit clearer for the rest of their visit.

Haruya’s message cuts to the chase: Miumi told him about what was going on, so could he and his mother come see him? Nanase sends back a concern that they’ll get lost on the way, but Haruya promises they’ll make it for such an important meeting.

They’re only an hour late. Chino brews Nanase some tea, and it’s some of the most delicious tea he’s had. Haruya leaves him an arrangement of flowers he’d picked out himself. Both of them cry a little.

Eruno comes alone, and Nanase accidentally calls her Potete. She tells him that Aira sometimes called her that, too, before the original Potete passed on. They had a dog funeral, and Aira told her that she wished she had the capability to create tears. It’s a melancholy visit.

Aira didn’t mention that she intended to bring both her parents along, so it’s a bit of a surprise for Nanase when he sees Kiri and Misato at the door, but he welcomes them in anyway. The two of them are married now, and are working on legally adopting Aira so they can leave their estates to her. Aira calls it a marriage of con-genius, and Nanase tells her the ability to make terrible puns is one of the best abilities humans have.

After that, he doesn’t expect many responses, but more replies filter in. Old friends send him sympathy, and the ones that can come to see him while he’s still able to receive them.

Rocca shows up with her uncle. The cafe is doing well, and Rocca hasn’t broken a plate in more than two months. Kotora still looks a bit nervous around him, but Nanase assures him that bygones are so bygones by now.

Tobari, on the other hand, is totally composed when she comes to visit. They have tea together, and Nanase resolves not to tell Chino that her tea has a serious competitor in Tobari’s latest blend. The secret will die with him.

Nomiya and Hiyu visit together: though they bicker considerably while they’re in Nanase’s house, it seems that they might be nominally friends now. Both of them are fascinated by the ridiculous setup of Nanase’s computer, to which Nanase shrugs and says he has nothing else he can easily work on. They later both send him spare parts to do with what he will.

Kirai doesn’t offer to visit, but he does send something like a sympathy card. That’s way more than Nanase expected from him, and he saves it to his computer in a folder marked ‘important’. When he mentions that, Kirai says of course it’s important, he should be saving anything Kirai sends him. Nanase points out that he used to send him viruses all the time.

Izuchi treats his visit as if the entire purpose of coming had been to examine him and his symptoms. When Nanase thanks him for being his friend, though, he doesn’t immediately contradict him about their relationship, and that’s enough.

All of this is enough. His powers are something he was born with, and the problems that come with them are something he can’t change or fight against. His life was always destined to be short.

To have lived a life full of friends that care for him as much as he cares for them…

That’s enough.


End file.
